A conventional processor architecture (PROCESSOR) is understood in the present case to refer to sequential processors having a von Neumann architecture or a Harvard architecture, such as controllers or CISC processors, RISC processors, VLIW processors, DSP processors, etc.
The term “reconfigurable target architecture” is understood in the present case to refer to modules (VPUs) having a function and/or interconnection that is repeatedly configurable, in particular configurable without interruption during run time, in particular integrated modules having a plurality of one-dimensionally or multidimensionally arranged arithmetic and/or logic and/or analog and/or memory modules, in particular also coarse-grained modules (PAEs) which are interlinked directly or via a bus system.
The generic class of such modules includes in particular systolic arrays, neural networks, multiprocessor systems, processors having a plurality of arithmetic units and/or logic cells, interlinking and network modules such as crossbar switches as well as known modules of the generic types FPGA, DPGA and XPUTER, etc. In this connection, reference is made in particular to the following patents and patent applications: P 44 16 881.0-53, DE 197 81 412.3, DE 197 81 483.2, DE 196 54 846.2-53, DE 196 54 593.5-53, DE 197 04 044.6-53, DE 198 80 129.7, DE 198 61 088.2-53, DE 199 80 312.9, PCT/DE 00/01869, DE 100 36 627.9-33, DE 100 28 397.7, DE 101 10 530.4, DE 101 11 014.6, PCT/EP 00/10516, EP 01 102 674.7, DE 196 51 075.9-53, DE 196 54 846.2-53, DE 196 54 593.5-53, DE 197 04 728.9, DE 197 07 872.2, DE 101 39 170.6, DE 199 26 538.0, DE 101 42 904.5, DE 101 10 530.4. These are herewith incorporated to the full extent for disclosure purposes.
This system may be designed in particular as a (standard) processor or module and/or may be integrated into a semiconductor (system on chip, SoC).
Reconfigurable modules (VPUs) of different generic types (such as PACT XPP technology, Morphics, Morphosys, Chameleon) are largely incompatible with existing technical environments and programming methods.
Programs for these modules are typically incompatible with existing programs of CPUs. A considerable development expense is thus necessary for programming, e.g., in particular for modules of the generic types Morphics, Morphosys. Chameleon already integrates a standard processor (ARC) on more or less reconfigurable modules. This makes approaches for programming tools available. However, not all technical environments are suitable for the use of ARC processors; in particular there are often existing programs, code libraries, etc. for any indeterminate other CPUs.
In internal experiments it has been found that there are certain methods and program sequences which may be processed better using a reconfigurable architecture rather than a conventional processor architecture. Conversely, there are also such methods and program sequences which are better executed using a conventional processor architecture. It would be desirable to provide a sequence partitioning to permit appropriate optimization.
Conventional translation methods for reconfigurable architectures do not support any forwarding of codes to any standard compilers for generating object codes for any desired PROCESSOR. Ordinarily, the PROCESSOR is fixedly defined within the compiler.
In addition, there are no scheduling mechanisms for reconfiguring the individual configurations generated for VPUs. In particular there are no scheduling mechanisms for configuration of independently extracted portions or for individual partitions of extracted portions. Conventional corresponding translation methods are described in the dissertation Übersetzungsmethoden für strukturprogrammierbare Rechner [Translation Methods for Structure Programmable Computers], by Dr. Markus Weinhardt, 1997, for example.
Several conventional methods are known for partitioning array CODE, e.g., João M. P. Cardoso, Compilation of Java™ Algorithms onto Reconfigurable Computing Systems with Exploitation of Operation-Level Parallelism, Ph.D. dissertation, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (UTL), 2000.
However, these methods are not embedded into any complete compiler systems. Furthermore, these methods presuppose complete control of the reconfiguration by a host processor, which involves considerable complexity. The partitioning strategies are designed for FPGA-based systems and therefore do not correspond to any actual processor model.